Three-year prison sentence for punching and killing a disabled man after parking row in Spain

A man has been given a three-year prison sentence for the death of Félix Francisco Oltra, a 64-year-old permanently disabled resident of Alzira (Valencia) who died after being punched by the boyfriend of a woman with whom he had argued an hour earlier over a parking space.

The accused admitted the crime during the hearing held by agreement on Thursday morning before the provincial court of Valencia. He accepted a sentence of three years’ imprisonment, which he has been serving since early March 2024, and will therefore soon be eligible for prison leave.

The public prosecutor's office requested four years' imprisonment for the accused, as the link between the punch and the victim's death two days later in hospital had been proven. In fact, he was already brain dead when he was admitted as a result of first hitting the wall and then the floor. If he had not suffered this aggression, due to a simple argument over a parking space, which was reserved for people with reduced mobility like the victim, Félix Francisco would still be alive.

For his girlfriend, who was also initially accused, the prosecution did not request a sentence, but the private prosecution asked for two years in prison as she had urged her boyfriend to commit the aggression and that without her participation the crime would not have taken place. Given the agreement reached between the parties, the accusation against the woman has been withdrawn and she is exempt from criminal responsibility for what happened.

The incident occurred at around 6.30pm on 27 February 2024, in Calle Ramón y Cajal in Alzira, when there was an argument between the partner of the convicted man and the victim, caused by the woman's improper parking in a space reserved for the disabled where Francisco was trying to park. The man, with a recognised disability of 37 per cent, had a parking card for people with reduced mobility due to his disability.

Although the woman had no right to be parked in the reserved parking space, she confronted the man and threatened to call her boyfriend, which she did after leaving the area in her vehicle. Around an hour later, the woman returned accompanied by her boyfriend. After seeing the victim leave his house, the couple went towards him, starting a new argument. According to the established facts, the accused struck the man in the chest while repeatedly saying: “What’s the matter?” Meanwhile, the woman remained on the sidelines of the assault. At one point, and without saying a word, the accused “with the intention of harming his physical integrity, but fully convinced that death would not occur” , according to the facts admitted by the defendant, delivered a strong punch to the man’s face. He collapsed, hitting first the wall behind him and then the floor.

The accused and his partner immediately left the scene, leaving the victim lying badly injured on the pavement. Two neighbours who had witnessed the incident from their home, and who even reproached the accused for his behaviour, came to the victim's aid. Similarly, National Police officers also went to the scene and attended to the victim until the arrival of the health services at around 8.10pm. He was taken to the Hospital de La Ribera in Alzira, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in a state of brain death, as reported at the time by SUR's sister newspaper Las Provincias.

As a result of the attack, the man suffered a contused wound to the upper lip on the right side and, more seriously, brain damage, as a result of which two days later, on 29 February at 9.48am, his death was confirmed.

The victim, 64, had been recognised as permanently disabled by the disability assessment team of the provincial directorate of the social security institute, due to physical deficiencies or limitations, since 18 January 2010.

The court sentenced the accused to three years in prison and he must compensate the deceased's wife with 144,600 euros and his daughter with 24,710 euros.